President Dodon Vows to Examine US Plans to Build Military Facilities in Moldova

CHISINAU (Sputnik) — Earlier in the day, the media reported about the plans of the US Naval Facilities Engineering Command Europe Africa Southwest Asia (NAVFAC EURAFSWA) to construct eight training facilities for military operations in urban terrain at Bulboaca training base in Moldova, citing a pre-solicitation notice, issued on June 25.

The project is expected to cost between $100,000 and $250,000. Same day, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said that the intentions of the US Navy to construct such facilities indicated the fact that the United States has started training Moldova's special forces for a potential military conflict with Transnistria.

"I consider it as yet another provocation of the Moldovan government. The construction of military facilities should be approved by the country's president, who is also the supreme commander. This issue has not been agreed with us. We will look into [the issue]," Dodon told reporters.

When asked whether he would block the construction project, the president answered that he would definitely oppose such intentions, but added that at first he needed to understand what the issue was about.

The Bulboaca training base is located only 26 miles away from Chisinau. On July 24 — August 5, the base hosted the Dragoon Pioneer 2017, joint drills of US and Moldovan troops. Dodon has repeatedly stressed that NATO membership was unacceptable for Moldova, which needed to remain neutral, and opposed participation of the Moldovan military in NATO drills.

Moldova is constitutionally neutral, which means it does not participate or support any belligerents in wars. At the same time, Moldova has been cooperating with NATO since joining the Partnership for Peace in 1994. The cooperation also extends to the Individual Partnership Action Plan, which Moldova became a part of in 2006.